


Chance Meeting

by cywscross



Series: Tumblr Prompts 2015 [1]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fem!Squalo, Genderbending, Pre-Slash, Prompt Fill, Sexual Harassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-17
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-03-07 23:44:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3187742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cywscross/pseuds/cywscross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <strong>Anonymous asked: genderswap prompt with squalo from khr? or anyone else if you prefer ^^</strong>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chance Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Ooh, I’d go with fem!Squalo/Tsuna, mostly because Tsuna is my baby and I like him too much to leave him out of anything, plus it’s almost always Dino/Squalo or Xanxus/Squalo in most fics so this would be different.

So... maybe Squalo is one of the only females in the Varia, the only one amongst the upper echelon of elite assassins, and she’s respected and feared inside the Varia but those in Vongola tends to give her shit and look down on her for being a woman and also Xanxus’ Right Hand, mostly because Enrico/Massimo/Federico is Vongola Decimo and his people are always suspicious about Xanxus usurping the throne. But of course, Squalo’s all screw them, they can go to hell for all she cares, and no matter how much they dislike her, even the worst of the trash wouldn’t dare say things about her spreading her legs for Xanxus within her hearing range (or any of the other Varia’s hearing range either, not if they don’t want to die very horrible, very painful, very messy deaths).

But it’s different with Enrico (we’ll go with Enrico) and his Guardians, and at least a couple of them are the ones who meet with her when Squalo absolutely has to make a trip over to the Vongola mansion (and that shitty boss of hers already makes a point not to send her unless he absolutely has to, and the guy thinks he’s so _subtle_ about it too, the idiot) to hand in an important report or receive a top secret document or bash some heads and (as politely as possible) yell at Enrico about the latest bout of budget cuts that the bastard’s screwing the Varia over with again. And no, these particular Mafioso are ones she _can’t_ really threaten with her sword when they trash talk her, so usually, Squalo can only irritate them back by ignoring them or insulting them back. She can’t even really shoulder past them or shove them out of her way to speed up a meeting because they’re all bigger and sturdier than her, and yeah, she can probably beat the lot of them in a sword fight but they _are_ Decimo’s Guardians so they’re no pushovers either, which means she has to tolerate their bullshit because violence would only end with injuries on both sides and more trouble for the Varia, and she may be hotheaded but she’s not _stupid_.

But then one day, while she’s waiting around in the hallway for Enrico to finish up whatever the fuck he’s doing so that she can get their business over and done with, a few of the Guardians waiting with her step up their game and really start getting on her nerves, probably tired of how much restraint she can show around them when she has to despite the fact that she’s well-known for her temper. And Squalo really, _really_ fucking wants to wipe the floor with these trashes, but that day’s meeting for Enrico is about something important, not to mention Varia’s standing with the main branch of Vongola is already on increasingly unsteady ground, so she can’t fuck people up like she wants to today, not if she wants to bring back good news to Xanxus and the others.

So she grits her teeth and waits, and only retaliates with glares that could melt stone and dishing out barbs at everything from their masculinity to their skills. And Enrico’s Lightning Guardian’s always been an impulsive little shit with an even worse temper than _Xanxus_ , and when he just _can’t_ get a reaction out of Squalo no matter what crass slurs he insinuates about her relationship with her boss and even the other Varia officers, he tries scaring her instead or some such crap, swaggering up and looming over as if that might intimidate her, and when all she does with that is roll her eyes and sink an unforgiving elbow into his gut, leaving him wheezing slightly, he gets rough. Shoves her into the banister while the others smirk or goad him on. Taunts her with suggestions of giving each of them a turn in bed just to make sure this meeting with Enrico goes well. Has the fucking audacity to yank her head back by the hair and _grope her_ , and Squalo sees red and is about to snap, meeting or no meeting, and no matter how Xanxus acts, her boss has always been protective of what’s his, and if Squalo leaves nothing but corpses in her wake, she’s sure he won’t mind-

And then out of nowhere, a spiral of pure Sky flames slam into the Lightning trash towering over her, sending him careening into a nearby wall with a loud crash that leaves him groaning on the floor with burns in his skin and rubble raining down on him.

The other Guardians go for their weapons but they don’t attack when they see who it is. Neither does Squalo, especially when she sees the way they seethe and twitch with resentment, but what surprises her most is the fact that the person who cut in ( _not_ her goddamn _saviour_ because she’s no one’s damsel in distress, and anyone who even implies that will get their balls cut off) is this Japanese guy who barely reaches her height with floofy brown hair and is definitely on the skinny side. Except his eyes gleam orange, and they stare back at the Guardians with this bland smile on his face like he’s just waiting for one of them to attack.

And none of them do. They grab their Lightning and beat a hasty retreat, spitting insults at the stranger but not retaliating like they would pretty much anyone else.

As soon as they're gone, the guy turns to look at Squalo, and the orange eyes are already gone, replaced by these doe brown eyes, and he’s actually probably a few years younger than she is, and he looks so utterly harmless that if it hadn't been for the Sky flames five seconds ago, Squalo would definitely wonder what the fuck this guy was doing in the mafia.

He even talks all earnestly, asking her if she’s alright but not crowding her, and smiling at her like she isn’t widely known throughout Vongola HQ as Xanxus’ bitch.

Squalo snarls back at him that of course she’s fine and she could've handled it, and the guy actually fucking apologizes and assures her that he knows how formidable Xanxus’ second-in-command is but that he couldn't in good conscience just stroll on by when he _could_ lend a hand in a situation like the one he had walked in on, and she had looked rather uncomfortable, and what Enrico’s men were doing was absolutely despicable anyway.

And he’s so fucking sincere about what he’s saying that it’s actually kinda creepy, but Squalo doesn’t have time to come up with a response because footsteps are coming from Enrico’s office, and the guy obviously hears it too because he bobs his head and bids her goodbye and smiles sunshine at her again before taking off down the hall, and Squalo is soon distracted when the door swings open and Enrico greets her with a sneer.

Squalo ends up keeping the encounter to herself (not because it’s special to her or anything stupid like that, just that if she brought him up, she’d have to bring Enrico’s Guardians up too, and who wants to talk about them?), but as soon as she has some spare time, she does some digging to find out who that guy was because those Sky flames had been _strong_ , and he couldn't possibly be just some lowly grunt if even Enrico’s Guardians won’t touch him.

She can’t find any records of him in Vongola’s recruits though, which irritates her to no end if only because she hates not knowing, and the next time she has to go to the Vongola mansion again, she can almost convince herself that she isn’t taking the long way around just so she might catch a glimpse of that guy.

She doesn’t until she’s on her way out again. He looks like he’s just returning from lunch or something, a coffee in one hand, and his driver bows low with genuine respect, and murmurs “Good day, Tsuna-sama,” and gets a “Thanks for the lift, Alfonso,” from this ‘Tsuna’ in return.

They have to pass each other so there’s no way for either of them to avoid their second encounter even if they wanted to, and just like last time, Tsuna smiles at her like he’s happy to see her, eyes lighting up with recognition, and he doesn’t even leery of her as he approaches.

Their exchange is short and slightly awkward, mostly because Squalo is still wary and even Tsuna seems slightly put off by her crabby retorts, though he still waves goodbye to her when they part ways, and wishes her a good day, and Squalo has to stomp down the urge to say something – anything – back that might be construed as _friendly_.

Squalo is in a foul mood by the time she gets back home, and she takes it out on Levi and Bel and Lussuria in a couple of spars. Xanxus squints at her at dinner but doesn't actually say anything in favour of his wine and steak, and Squalo doesn’t even know why she’s so pissed.

She meets Tsuna _again_ when she goes to Vongola HQ another few months later, and this time, somehow or another (“I was just going out for lunch? Do you want to join me?”), she ends up grabbing a simple meal of fish and chips with him, and they end up bickering over whether or not tuna should go on pizza, and arguing over which is better: straight up martial arts or swordsmanship, and discussing the idiocy that was the Carcassa Famiglia, and when Squalo gets home hours later than she usually does after a visit to Enrico, Xanxus is pacing around the dining room like some giant cat, and the others have gathered and are pretending they aren’t worried even if they are, and Squalo just sort of breezes past all of them, still with a smirky sort of grin on her face that she doesn't lose even after Xanxus takes one look at her expression, gives her a disgusted glower, shoots at her head, and then storms off back to his office.

And that’s pretty much how she ends up striking up a friendship with that pathetically nice idiot in Vongola over a series of months, meeting up with him even when she doesn't have to go to the Vongola mansion, and they do mafia things like go on missions together when Tsuna can slip away to join her, and then they do non-mafia things when Tsuna drags her out around the city and she complains about the masses and how boring she finds shopping always is so he takes her paintballing and isn’t even mad when she cackles and gloats after splattering him with more paint than he does her, and then they go for hotdogs down by the harbours where nobody cares about the state of their clothes.

Almost a year into their acquaintance, she eventually learns that there’s a small faction of people in the main branch that isn’t all that happy with Enrico’s leadership, and allies like the Chiavarone have been meeting on the sly about bad decisions that Enrico made that have cost them subordinates, and _Tsuna_ eventually learns (after Squalo invites him back to the Varia mansion for the first time – and then several times after that – to meet the others) that Enrico’s paranoia isn’t just paranoia and that Xanxus really is thinking of making a bid for the Vongola throne.

There’s a tense silence in the dining room after that revelation, and her boss’ eyes never leave Tsuna’s because Xanxus is taking a big gamble with revealing this, but Tsuna’s proven to be a wealthy source of information and income from Enrico’s private files and accounts, and Squalo’s pretty sure that her boss actually _likes_ Tsuna, especially after the latter proved that he could stand toe to toe with Xanxus in a fight. And all Tsuna does after a moment of contemplation and staring back at Xanxus is nod, finish chewing on a meatball, and then offer CEDEF’s support to Xanxus’ coup.

“You’re CEDEF then?” Squalo huffs because in the end, she never did outright ask, though she had suspected that Tsuna must belong to CEDEF because he certainly wasn’t one of Enrico’s.

Tsuna glances at her with a measured gaze, pokes at his pasta a bit, and then looks up again with a quiet smile that holds that steely edge that Squalo loves to see whenever they spar because that means she’s managed to push him into getting _serious_.

And then he drops the bomb. “I’m the CEDEF’s unofficial leader.”

The way Tsuna explains it in the ensuing stunned silence (Xanxus included), CEDEF is just as torn as Vongola is these days, officially led by Sawada Iemitsu who’s loyal to Enrico but is really only in charge of about a quarter of CEDEF’s members.

“The rest secretly follow me,” Tsuna says, and his tone holds enough conviction to banish any doubt, not that Squalo doubts him because somehow or other, she’s learned to trust Tsuna pretty explicitly these days. “We don’t like how things are done in Vongola right now, Enrico’s decisions have cost a lot of lives. We want him gone just as much as you do.”

And that’s the start of joint plotting, and Tsuna starts – discreetly – bringing people over: a dynamite specialist who worships the ground Tsuna walks on (and his adoration _grates_ on Squalo’s nerves for some reason), two illusionists (one of whom is even more creepy-as-fuck than Mammon), a boxer who gets on way too well with Lussuria, a whiny brat of a cow who’s still in his teens, a self-proclaimed carnivore with a few screws loose because he’s even more violent than all of Varia _combined_ , and a _swordsman_ who laughs too much and thinks the whole world is a joke but Squalo finds herself grinning at him whenever they spar, and he’s about the only one of the lot who she _doesn’t_ want to filet. Not too often anyway.

(Sometimes though, when she chases after Yamamoto for another fight, she catches Tsuna watching her like he wants to say something, but whenever Squalo grudgingly pauses in her pursuit to cock a demanding eyebrow at the man, Tsuna always just shakes his head and smile a little oddly at her. It’s weird.)

There are others too, Tsuna reveals to them. Iemitsu’s own apprentice has defected to Tsuna’s side, and apparently, Tsuna also has a personal in with the other Arcobaleno (Mammon hums at this), and one of them has an apprentice too, and the infamous Trident Shamal and Poison Scorpion Bianchi are also wrapped around his finger (“They aren’t, actually. I always have to beg a lot for Shamal to treat anyone who isn’t female, and Bianchi follows Reborn. Reborn was my tutor by the way. He’s on our side too, don’t worry.”).

Yes, Reborn. Even Xanxus looked shocked for a few seconds. One day, Squalo will find out exactly how Tsuna has managed to gather so many powerful people because seriously, the last time she checked, CEDEF was not _that_ strong.

“Iemitsu will be a problem,” Squalo grumbles, scowling at the thought. “That guy’s a Sky too, and Boss will be occupied with Enrico.”

“I can handle Iemitsu,” Tsuna says in careful tones that automatically make Squalo frown at him. “I know how he fights, and I'm a Sky too, remember?”

Squalo does, of course she does, she’ll never say it out loud but Tsuna’s flames are _beautiful_ , and she always loves watching him fly and dance in battle with them.

“You’ll be able to take him?” Xanxus asks gruffly from across the room where he’s studying a map. “That scum was probably your mentor or something, wasn't he?”

Tsuna laughs at this but it’s unhappy for once, and tired, and Squalo instinctively leans a shoulder against his while pretending to reach for a highlighter.

“No,” Tsuna tells the room at large, and Squalo notices how the CEDEF members gathered there all look a bit grim.

Tsuna drops his second bomb. “He’s not my mentor. He’s my father.”

His mother was killed years ago, Tsuna tells her later on the privacy of the roof where they’re watching the sun go down while she does some sword maintenance. And he was exposed to the mafia world and shipped off to live with Iemitsu who was always too busy to spend time with him and foisted him off on Reborn at the first opportunity.

“Best decision he ever made for me,” Tsuna says, and maybe his tone is a little resigned, but his words are still honest. “Reborn’s a thousand times better than Iemitsu.”

Squalo just thinks the world is pretty fucked up. She thinks, tragedy shouldn't happen to people like Tsuna. Tragedy shouldn't happen to Tsuna at all because he deserves better. He deserves the best.

Tsuna is focused on the horizon thankfully so he doesn't see her turn red upon reviewing her very uncharacteristic thoughts. They make her feel unbalanced, and she inwardly flounders, and then she pushes Tsuna off the roof for lack of anything better to do to make herself feel less embarrassed even if nobody knows except her. It’s okay though because Tsuna yelps as he topples over the edge but he still sees fit to drag her down with him.

They end up shoving leaves into each other’s faces on the front lawn until Xanxus throws open a window and fires multiple shots at them while shouting at them to “GET A FUCKING ROOM, TRASH!!”

Squalo is gratified to see that at least Tsuna flushes as red as she does.

Still, as she lets Tsuna give her a hand up, a shy curl to his smile for once but eyes as warm as always, she thinks she just might be in trouble.

 

**Author's Note:**

> **Please leave a review on your way out.**


End file.
